Arab Stereotypes in Western Media

A small program which helps us to reveal the prejudices on the Arabpeople which are commonly broadcasted through western cinema, from silent films to contemporary Hollywood eraHow many times, whenever watching a film or television series are there Arabcharacters that incarnate villains, terrorists, and religious fanatical or petrodollar sheiks? These stereotyped views, lacking objectivity and critical reasoning constitute the analysis material and will be used to reflect during this season. Curated by Arab Media lab project and Digital Marrakech festival.

Movies

Planet of the Arabs

, by Jackie Salloum (Palestine and United States, 2008, 9 min.)

Planet of the Arabs is a experimental short on Hollywood’s negative depiction of Arabs and Muslims through the decades. Inspired by Dr. Jack Shaheen’s book “Reel Bad Arabs”, Planet was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival, won the “Best Editing” award at the Cinema texas Film Festival, continues to screen at art exhibits and used in classrooms as an educational tool on stereotypes in the media.

From the book REEL BAD ARABS: Out of 1000 films that have Arab & Muslimcharacters (from the year 1896 to 2000) 12 were positive depictions 52 wereeven handed 900 and so were negative.

Silent Film, Big Words

Silent film already started a stereotype creation process on Arabs, developing a reluctant subject matter: brutal Arabs, thirsty for power and defeated by westerners.

Recruiting identities

, by Arab Media Lab Project (Morocco, 2014, 7 min.)

This documentary is based on the historical archive of the first Moroccanworkers’ hiring process developed by Dutch authorities in 1969. It shows that the work force hiring process is also a way of approving or not identities, cultures, religions and ways of being.